Durable Justin Rose digs in to make a qualified success of things | Andy Bull

Former US Open champion earned his spot in the field at Burnham and Berrow and is now making the most of it

It was a slow day's trade at the ice cream stands roundabout Royal Troon. The rain clouds closed over just as the leaders were arriving at the practice green, and misery spread over the links like a puddle no one got around to mopping up. It was the sort of weather that makes you turn straight around as soon as you open the front door, and after an hour of it the crowd started to thin out as people made their way home early. Even the locals' dry sense of humour was wet through. Compelling as the Open is, you needed a damn good reason to want to be out when you could be back watching it on TV.

Justin Rose had one. Rose, five under and two shots off Shane Lowry's overnight lead at the start of the round, was one of the few men left in the field who fancied he had a proper shot at becoming the champion golfer of the year. It's a chance he has been waiting for ever since he finished fourth at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur back in 1998, and he kindled it right through his four-and-a-half-hour round. By the time he finished, it was still alive.